The business of the government is the business of the people. The government exists for our benefit, not the other way around. That’s why public records laws are so important.
Because the government is our (the public’s) business, it’s imperative that we (you, us and everyone else) be able to have access to the documents that can tell us just how well or how poorly our elected officials and paid public employees are doing on our behalf.
Arizona’s Public Records Law is pretty simple. It provides that “[p]ublic records and other matters in the custody of any officer shall be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours.” Although it sounds simple and straightforward, there are always public employees looking for loopholes that will enable them to make it more difficult for you to see the records that belong to all of us.
An example of such “stonewalling” techniques came to light recently when the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office informed the West Valley View that police reports no longer can be viewed by the public at the District 2 substation in Avondale; people now must go to the Sheriff’s Office’s headquarters in downtown Phoenix to view such records — and only after they have submitted a public records request form (which, by the way, is not mandated by the state’s Public Records Law).
For the past 19 years, the View has been able to access the arrest reports at the District 2 substation, which we publish weekly in the Police Log. The reasons we publish all of the arrest reports from the five Southwest Valley law-enforcement agencies were outlined in a column written by Managing Editor Jim Painter in the Oct. 28 edition (if you missed it, visit the View Web site, westvalleyview.com, and click on “commentary”).
The change in the Sheriff Office’s policy came without warning and without explanation. However, we have been able to ascertain it was the decision of one man, Lt. Paul Chagolla, one of Sheriff Arpaio’s many public information officers.
We find it incredible that such an important public-policy decision concerning the handling of public records could be made by one non-elected official, without the benefit of any public hearings or consultation with any body of elected representatives. What recourse does the public have in such a case?
We repeatedly have asked Chagolla to put his new policy in writing, along with an explanation for the necessity of it, but he flat-out refuses to do so. He believes he owes the public no explanation as to why you no longer have access to public records without first jumping through his special hoops.
Chagolla, we repeat, is a public information officer, whose primary mission in life is to make his boss, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, look as good as possible so he can continue to win re-election). The cities of Avondale, Goodyear and Buckeye also have PIOs. Chagolla’s action could be compared to one of them unilaterally deciding that their city’s speed limits should be 15 mph — without the benefit of any public hearings or the input of the people the voters elected to represent them at the city level.
We don’t dispute that Chagolla’s new policy conforms to the letter of the Public Records Law (you still have access to the records as long as you’re willing to go downtown and jump through Chagolla’s hoops), but we contend it quashes the spirit of the law, which is that those records are yours, you have a right to see them, you have the right to determine the conditions under which you will see them and that the role of a public servant is to serve you and make your life easier, not force you to serve him and make his job easier.
We can’t think of any good reason why a person seeking a police report — for insurance purposes, or to find out the status on an investigation after your house has been burglarized, your car stolen or your property vandalized — should be forced to drive to downtown Phoenix rather than view the records in Avondale. It’s one man’s arbitrary usurpation of one of your rights.
Only you have the power to reclaim what is yours by right — and by law. Those who don’t fight for their rights are bound to lose them, one by one, until there are no rights left to lose.
